I think Dumars goes younger, probably looking for players in their mid-20's. Milsap, Lee, Charlie V, Bosch (in trade). I don't see him breaking the bank in a building year. Since he's been at the helm we've had two episodes where he went big, he picked up Sheed in the final payout year of his last contract at the trade deadline, $16.9 and Iverson last year same thing, $21M.

In the first case it was to put us over when we were teetering on the inside edge, in the second case it was to put us over when we were teetering on the outside edge. Only difference was one came on the acknowledged front end and the other on the acknowledged rear end.

If Dumars runs true to form he's looking for hardworking sleepers that can be brought in or bought for somewhere in $6-8M range. Okur might fit because the cost range and skill set are good. Though he'd still need an inside banger. He really wants to keep Dyess and thats going to probably cost 6M.

He isn't likely to suddenly start contracting anyone where their pay starts at +20% of the total payroll. He never has and the NBA is facing a couple years of potentially lower cap space.

How could anyone be surprised about Flip Saunders being let go? He was still the longest tenured Pistons coach since Dumars took over the helm. How did that come out of left field? He brought in an experienced coach to lead an experienced core group of players with the directive to win another championship before the core had a meltdown.

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Who was surprised about this?

The general sentiment seems to be surprised he lasted as long as he did w/ his failures and the player tension.

Right. So, dominant big man with an incredible work ethic, a professional attitude, no ego, a defensive mindset, and a strong sense of loyalty... i.e. Piston DNA.

That is our Holy Grail. And that is why I would scratch Amare, Boozer, and a few other off of our shopping list. We obviously aren't getting a Tim Duncan (#1 draft pick type guy), but we should be looking for a big man with as many Duncan-like qualities as possible.

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Yes but we all know what they had to do to get him? Tank the season and draw the #1 pick. Then you have to hope its a strong draft. That's how it all began for them.

G-man makes a good point about Sheed. Now we know that LB might not have been brought back if the Pistons had not won the title, I think it was very clever to trade for Sheed, take your shot, and then Joe would have had the cap space to resign Memo or go in a new direction if he didn't want to retain Sheed.

Yes but we all know what they had to do to get him? Tank the season and draw the #1 pick. Then you have to hope its a strong draft. That's how it all began for them.

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Didn't work for the Celtics. Strong draft or not, what's the combined chances of it containing a player of Duncan's caliber, AND of us winning the lottery to draft him, even if we had the worst record? Zero or thereabouts.

One thing I've figured out about joe dumars is that he has no problem lying to us, the fans and ticket holders, about what the pistons are doing. If he told everybody two seasons ago that he planned on letting flip go and shutting the whole %%%% down, it would have meant huge losses in ticket sales. If he came out today and said we were going to scrap nearly the entire team, burn a few years learning to figure out an entirely new style of playing basketball, THEN hire a new coach that can actually do something with the players he bought we would all start watching more hockey.

While Joe has everybody fooled, thinking that this a reloading/retooling it is really more of a rebuilding. By the end of this upcoming season I plan to see less than 4 players remaining from the last team to make it to the eastern conference finals.

I also expect the brand of basketball these new players play to be completely different, especially on offense. Letting people dribble down the clock before settling for crappy jumpshots will not win any championships. Defensively, we need to change our philosophy just slightly, maybe just enough that the players don't spend all day complaining about the refs calling fouls that they didn't call when we were in the finals.

For the Pistons to have success now they need to have a rebuild I don't care what Joe calls it.

I assume that it is a rebuild, and we know of what this new style might look like, (spread offense with skilled big men and fast penetrating guards). Most of the players who are not going to be down with this new system have already been excised.

If we pick a couple of productive big men who can run the floor and are athletic and wings that can shoot and make plays then we are good. But we already have that in our current wings. This is why I doubt that the pistons are going to try to get rid of rip or tayshaun unless they are part of this "drama" that caused so many problems last year.

A roster like this would be a good start, (and given how off seasons always end without as much drama as i'd like, it seems pretty realistic)

More insanity. This guy wants $20m a year and thinks he too is a premium franchise player. They're talking about his opting out on almost $18M next summer if he isn't traded..

18 is roughly a third of a teams payroll. Think hard about that. 1/3 to one guy and the other 14 get the table scraps. Unless you're in a huge market with lots of additional ways to leverage your media offerings you can't build a team this way anymore.

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It's also possible he would take less to play elsewhere, but doesn't want to stay with the Suns unless they give him a ridiculous amount of money.

Kobe Bryant must officially notify the Lakers via fax by the end of Tuesday should he decide to terminate his contract. The Lakers declined to comment. Bryant's agent, Rob Pelinka, did not return a phone call.
Detroit, Memphis and Oklahoma City are the only teams far enough under the salary cap to even contemplate signing Bryant to a five-year deal this summer, but they wouldn't be close enough to match Bryant's $23-million salary next season without shedding additional salaries.

1. Make offer to David Lee
2. Trade Rip Hamilton to New Orleans for Tyson Chandler
3. Look for a shooting guard who can spell defense
4. Try to find a way to get Dyess back
5. Try out that new wrap at the deli down the street

"One thing I've figured out about joe dumars is that he has no problem lying to us, the fans and ticket holders, about what the pistons are doing. If he told everybody two seasons ago that he planned on letting flip go and shutting the whole %%%% down, it would have meant huge losses in ticket sales."Tads

This basic theme seems to run through a lot of threads in the forum these days. and I'm having a hard time understanding a lot of folks thinking.

How long do ya'll think a normal team has together? How long do you think a core group normally stays together? The Pistons "core" was kept intact longer than almost any core group in the last 20 years. So how could anyone be surprised when those pieces started being re-arranged? What did you expect? 8 years? 10 years?

How could anyone be surprised about Flip Saunders being let go? He was still the longest tenured Pistons coach since Dumars took over the helm. How did that come out of left field? He brought in an experienced coach to lead an experienced core group of players with the directive to win another championship before the core had a meltdown.

He didn't get the job done. That's pretty simple stuff. He knew it when he accepted those big weekly checks. His fate was tied to their fate, that was the essence of his contract.

No one lied to anyone.

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Joe Dumars might not have been lying, but he certainly does not say anything until he is good and ready to say it. He just got done saying at the end of the season that he was going to stick with Michael Curry, now (thankfully) he comes out saying that he is going to fire him. He must have made a decision about Curry, if not a guaranteed decision about Curry at the end of the year, but he probably did not want to fire him until he was good and ready. Perhaps Joe has another coach in the wings that he can't announce until tomorrow.

I don't think it is wrong that Joe is lying, its part of business. In fact I would rather he did that than have all of the teams dirty laundry aired out there. But since there is such a lack of information, people tend to freak out when the news does go out like chicken little. But given the fact that Joe D rarely gives out information and the information he does give out is carefully worded to present the image that he wants, and can be contradicted whenever a deal worth pursuing comes down the pipe.

When thinking about the things that he will do next, it might be good to assume that maybe he is not going to go out and do what makes sense to do. In my opinion, he is more excited about drew gooden and trevor ariza than boozer or gordon. But we'll see what happens...

Joe Dumars might not have been lying, but he certainly does not say anything until he is good and ready to say it. He just got done saying at the end of the season that he was going to stick with Michael Curry, now (thankfully) he comes out saying that he is going to fire him. He must have made a decision about Curry, if not a guaranteed decision about Curry at the end of the year, but he probably did not want to fire him until he was good and ready. Perhaps Joe has another coach in the wings that he can't announce until tomorrow.

I don't think it is wrong that Joe is lying, its part of business. In fact I would rather he did that than have all of the teams dirty laundry aired out there. But since there is such a lack of information, people tend to freak out when the news does go out like chicken little. But given the fact that Joe D rarely gives out information and the information he does give out is carefully worded to present the image that he wants, and can be contradicted whenever a deal worth pursuing comes down the pipe.

When thinking about the things that he will do next, it might be good to assume that maybe he is not going to go out and do what makes sense to do. In my opinion, he is more excited about drew gooden and trevor ariza than boozer or gordon. But we'll see what happens...

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There's a lot of sense in this. Perhaps, Joe wasn't ready to make the call and since Curry was under the contract when season ended he wasn't going to make a change unless he had plan B. Also, possibly Joe wanted Curry to mend his ways with players and Curry refused, which kind of pushed Joe to make the call. Or maybe there are other things about the direction of the team they disagreed upon and Joe decided to cut his losses. These decisions are not usually made overnight and Joe needed time to do what he figured he needs to do, so he said what he said.